A Teresian-Style Adventure!

Workmen to right of them,

Workmen to left of them,

Workmen beneath of them

Hammered and tunneled!

            That is a poor parody of the Charge of the Light Brigade, but it is an accurate description of our monastery just now! On the south side of the Monastery, we are finally getting our new generator ready for action. Well, when I say “we” I mean that we are watching the workmen doing it. Everything was in place long ago except for one component, and we have been waiting for that component for a year and a half. Now it has finally arrived, and they were able to pour the concrete and get it in place and connect the cables. This is what they have been doing for the last two days, during which most of our electricity has been turned off. The generator is almost ready to go. You can see from the photo the men and the machines that were involved in the recent construction.

            While the big machinery was active on the south side, the north side saw what was supposedly a small replacement turn into a mammoth deconstruction. The novitiate is situated in the ground floor of the north wing of the monastery. It is a corridor of cells with the novitiate room and a couple of office rooms. The tub room in the novitiate bathroom looked rather run down and we decided to replace the bathtub in anticipation of a couple of aspirants who are considering joining our community.

            The bathtub was prefabricated, and replacing it seemed a simple matter. Until we saw the wall behind it. Black with mold!!!! Not only the wall behind the bathtub, but the whole novitiate wing is invaded by black mold! The mold company was called in and they have sealed up the whole ground floor of that wing. Everything in the novitiate had to be carried out and either de-contaminated or thrown out. All the walls will need to be gutted and when finally the area is safe, it will all need to be rebuilt.

            People talk about the silence and solitude of Carmel. I said that the Charge of the Light Brigade is an accurate description of our Monastery at the moment. We feel we are in a war zone and the worst hasn’t yet begun!

            Yet Teresa herself seldom had any chance of peace and quiet. Once she began her foundations, she was busy with workmen, with plans, with remodeling, with practical decisions and she had little time to think about being a contemplative. Instead, she found that by doing God’s will she became a contemplative in the midst of all the turmoil. A novice in one of our Carmels said that, “Teresa wasn’t sanctified in spite of her travels but because of them.” In describing her foundations, Teresa wrote, ”Moreover, the true lover loves everywhere and is always thinking of the Beloved! It would be a thing hard to bear if we were able to pray only when off in some corner. I do realize that prayer in the midst of occupations cannot last many hours; but, O my Lord, what power over You a sigh of sorrow has that comes from the depths of our hearts on seeing that it isn't enough that we are in this exile but that we are not even given the chance to be alone enjoying You.”

            Teresa learned that “God moves among the pots and pans”, and we are discovering that He also moves among the backhoes and jackhammers that – thanks be to God! – someone else is handling for us. We are discovering how to imitate her in the adventures of her foundations while remaining at home all the time. You don’t need to leave the enclosure to have a Teresian-style adventure!

            This will be an enormous challenge for us, both in the construction activity and in the financial demands. Please keep us in your prayers, and also pray that when we have a newly built novitiate, we will also have many adventurous applicants who want to live there!